Are we being inconsiderate when it comes to reopening our state sooner than later?

Inconsiderate:     1aHEEDLESSTHOUGHTLESS bcareless of the rights or feelings of others 2not adequately considered ILL-ADVISED

OK, so anyone that has NEVER been inconsiderate can leave the room…I’ll wait.

It seems I’m still here. No surprise. In this case, though, what I’m most interested in is definition 2, the amount of consideration we give to an argument BEFORE we take a definitive side. Like me, I think most people make a gut decision and then spend the majority of their brain power in building a strong argument to support that side of the controversy. We seek to make our position ‘bullet-proof’, because no one likes to be schooled on how their thinking is faulty. What we see these days therefore has very little to do with true and honest debate, just endless chants of, ‘I’m right and you’re wrong!’ No gentle discourse or at the very least, an open mind to consider the ‘other’ side’s view.  When did we get to be so arrogant?

How have the great examples of human consideration been established? The Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation. I’m pretty sure there was some level of consideration, discussion and compromise. Where has that all gone? Has a couple of generations of parents’ coddling their children influenced our ability to sit still and listen and consider an alternate reality? I mean, we can’t ALL be winners.

This week about 500 protesters gathered in Phoenix to show support in immediately reopening our state for business. I honestly am divided somewhat on the matter, as both sides do have reasonable arguments.

  • Are well established public institutions, like our schools, churches, and the healthcare system being harmed by these shutdowns? Quite possibly.
  • Are some industries, businesses and livelihoods being damaged beyond repair? Very likely.
  • Are individuals and families suffering emotionally and psychologically from the state’s present policy? For sure.
  • Are there even some people actually dying because of this separation? I have to imagine, yes.

So, are social distancing and government mandated closures doing more harm than allowing the disease to take its natural course? That, my friends, we’ll really never know. Thankfully, in my opinion, our leaders did decide to take action. They listened to the experts, they considered historical outbreaks, they looked at the numbers and they decided at the time that the cost in human life and misery outweighed the inconvenience, financial loss and resultant suffering from lock down policies. So then, what’s changed? I have to tell you, I would not want to be in the position of prematurely deciding to ‘get back to normal’ only to determine that ‘normal’ is an unrealistic expectation right now. In fact, the ‘normal’ of the past may never be achievable.

It’s a certainly a quandary. But then I considered the many sacrifices of our nurses and doctors who have, in many cases, given their very lives caring for others so that this G.D. curve can be flattened. (Over 10% of those infected are health care workers.)  And then I considered the protesters. Have any lost a loved one yet, or would any of them give up a family member so that we can get the economy opened a few weeks sooner? I finally realized we need to take a breath and really give this matter some more hard, thoughtful and open-minded consideration, and not just from our own point of view. Let’s make sure we exhaust all our consideration in this case, because this is a tough one.

One thought on “Are we being inconsiderate when it comes to reopening our state sooner than later?

  1. Living in Westchester NY where the outbreak started for us from a lawyer traveling on Metro North, the devastation and loss of life around here is vast. Healthcare workers have been stretched beyond their limits, and supplies scarce, and hospital ER’s filled beyond capacity. My family has been fortunate enough to not be affected by this virus. Now comes the tricky part….we just can’t turn on the switch to start up at 100%. A slow, steady return would be just fine by us here in NYC. We’re dealing with too many confined, populated areas ie, subways, crowded tourist spots. Ideally, a vaccine would need to be introduced asap before we would feel safer from contracting this virus and going back to the way we were.

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